Cameron warns EU over tampering with single market

David Cameron has warned he will not accept attempts to tamper with the
European single market by any group other than the full 27 members of the
European Union.

Britain has faced the threat of being sidelined in Europe ever since Mr Cameron vetoed proposals to change the EU Treaty.

By Martin Strydom

10:42AM GMT 06 Jan 2012

"Why are we in the organisation (European Union)? We're there because we're a trading nation, and we want access to the single market and a full say about the rules of the single market," the Prime Minister told BBC Radio 4.

"What we can't have is the single market being discussed outside the European Union, and we'll do everything possible to make sure that doesn't happen."

Britain has faced the threat of being sidelined in Europe ever since Mr Cameron vetoed proposals to change the EU Treaty to create a fiscal union, forcing the rest of the 26 EU members to forge ahead with a separate treaty to save the euro.

On the domestic front, Mr Cameron said he wanted a greater rebalancing of the economy away from government spending, excessive borrowing, financial services and consumption and towards business investment, export and manufacturing.

"In places there is a rebalancing taking place but it's not going as far and as fast as I would like it to and we need to do better on that front," he said.

He kept pressure on the bonus culture among bankers and top executives, which has fuelled public anger at a time of deep government spending cuts.

"There's been a massive reduction in the level of bonuses compared with three or four years ago .... and we want to see that trend continue," he said.

While acknowledging that 2012 was going to be "difficult" and "testing" year, Mr Cameron hoped inflation would fall, easing the pain on cash-strapped citizens of austerity measures to reduce Britain's massive debts.

"Inflation has been stubbornly high and that had an effect on household income last year and so consumers felt particularly squeezed. Looking into 2012 one of the trends I hope to see happen is a fall in the level of inflation and so therefore households feeling under less pressure than they did in 2011," he said.